20 Best Android Games of 2013

Badland is a relatively simple game at heart that challenges you to complete level upon level of increasingly complex traps. It’s also real time, so don’t go into this thinking you can sit around and plan your escape. Plan for plenty of repetition and incremental progress. If you like these types of games, Badland is well worth at least the $1.99 for all the levels ad-free.

Deer Hunter 2014 is an attractive diversion for those of you who are stuck inside for the winter, dreaming about next spring’s hunt. Free isn’t a bad price to pay, but you’ll quickly run up against the game’s energy and import limitations. However, I’ve found that all you need is to have a few of these energy based games running simultaneously to make it worth your while. Deer Hunter 2014 is a solid title in the hunting genre, if not a tad bit simplistic.

Wipeout is probably the most fun 2D side-scroller I’ve played on an Android device, and that’s no small feat considering that there are no power-ups to be collected and no enemies except the obstacles in your path. It’s a blast trying to figure out the best techniques and timing to get past sections of difficult rounds, and the colorful locales and objects make this all the more enjoyable. You’ll no doubt while away many an hour getting through the game’s six levels and clocking record times.

If you’re into racing games at all you owe it to yourself to give Turbo Racing League a look. Like I said up top, I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years that a free, licensed title based on a Dreamworks movie for children would be half this fun. Even now I can’t wait to finish this review up so I can go do a few more laps. Those racing shells don’t pay for themselves, after all. It’s free. Give it a download. You won’t be disappointed, and if you are, you’re only out a little bit of data.

Fieldrunners 2 costs $2.99 on the Play Store and frankly, its worth every single penny of it. Most sequels, be it movies or games tend to bring a feeling of familiarity-fatigue. Developers either tend to play it safe and continue where they left off previously, or go overboard and completely reinvent the game making it unrecognizable. Subatomic Studios have managed to strike a fine balance blending the elements that made the prequel a hit with new arsenal and maps that makes its sequel even better. With Fieldrunners 2, they haven’t just created a masterpiece, they have outclassed their original masterpiece in both design and gameplay. Fieldrunners 2 is guaranteed to shoot up the charts and onto every TD lovers device in the coming days. Even if you don’t have a care for Tower Defense games, Fieldrunners 2 is definitely one for your collection. So go ahead and grab your copy now!

Monster Shooter 2’s zero-dollar price tag and blockbuster gameplay will undoubtedly have you shrieking with glee. It’s so good I would have gladly spent money to further the gameplay…. but so fun I chose to grind my way through the game to earn my cash instead. Compared to a certain game about a criminal who became unstuck in time, which cost nothing and left me feeling like someone should have paid me to play it, I think it’s pretty obvious why some games get bad reviews and others don’t. Not that I’m referencing a specific event or anything, of course. That’d just be petty.

A year or so ago this game would have been a solid five on the scale. It’s not on that level now, mostly because of the great games we’ve seen released already this year, but it’s still pretty darn good. If the premium feature ads weren’t so intrusive it’d also be a game I could see spending a couple bucks on to thank Glu for all the free stuff they did include. If you’re a fan of shooters — and specifically those of the WWII variety — there’s absolutely no reason it shouldn’t be on your phone right now. If you’re not, give it a go anyway. If your experience is at all like mine you might come away surprised.

By any measure, Carmageddon is one hell of a ride. Players who’ve experienced the madness of this franchise in the past will find themselves right at home, while those who are new to it are in for some quirky, darkly humorous and altogether off-the-rails fun. It’s also a great way to prepare for Stainless Games’ upcoming (and more polished) title Carmageddon Reincarnation that will take the derangement of this classic to a whole new level. If you’re not convinced, take the limited free version for a spin and see if you’re not left with a bloodlust you never knew existed.

When it comes to the tower defense genre I think it is an almost established fact that the original Kingdom Rush from Ironhide Studios is the creme of the crop. What started out as a flash browser game stormed mobile devices with its cartoon looks and interesting ideas on a popular genre and because of all that it dominated top ten lists since its mobile release. As usual with success a sequel was planned and released called Kingdom Rush Frontiers. Apple users got the game much sooner than anyone else but after months of agonizing waiting Kingdom Rush Frontiers, the Kingdom Rush sequel, is finally out on Android and it is glorious.

Walking Dead: Assault is one of the better games for Android, and it takes a little playing to settle into. On the cover, it seems like a balls-out slaughter fest, but once you get to the latter levels the tactical aspects begin to shine as you begin build and customize your party. Too bad that’s where it stops, leaving you wishing for more. Had the party AI supported auto-cooperation during fights and had I been able to manually target individual zeds for attack, this would’ve won my first gold-star. But alas, we live in an imperfect world. Still, for $2.99 this game is absolutely worth sticking on your tablet and keeping around for the next episodes.

But the penalty kicks notwithstanding, FIFA 14 is a fantastic game for both the casual player as well as serious gamers. The new touch controls are intuitive, the graphics are wonderful for a mobile game, and the gameplay is as mesmerizing and involved as ever. Considering that you don’t have to pay even a cent for it, this easily makes it as the Game of the Year for me so far.

Plants vs. Zombies 2 has a silly storyline where you have to travel in time. Your neighbour, Crazy Dave, wants to eat the perfect taco and so he has called upon the services of a sentient time machine named Penny. The banter between the two swings between boring and silly fun, but it’s not going to get in the middle of your gameplay, which is the crux of the matter.

If you’ve been pining for your boxed-up SNES RPG collection, Final Fantasy V will scratch your itch for retro fun. The price tag may scare you initially, but there’s enough content to justify the price. Besides, we used to pay close to a hundred dollars for these games back in the ‘90s.

Rymdkapsel is an abstract, sci-fi adaptation of a real time strategy game set in space that holds your attention through wave upon wave of attacking enemies. Unfortunately, once you’ve played a few times, things get a bit old. The addition of new units, varied enemies, or even an option to change the background would’ve kept me going longer. For $3.99 on the Play store, it seems a steep price to pay for a game so small in scope… yet, it’s still strangely appealing. Your call.

While Stay Alight is free on the Play store, you only get 20 of the promised 60+ levels without charge. Campaigns 2 and 3 will cost you $0.99 each – not bad. The first campaign is pretty easy to get through until you hit level 15 or so, so I’d go ahead and plan on buying the rest. This game certainly stands-out from the rest of the Android junk out there in the market, and is an absolute delight to play. I just wish it was a bit more challenging from the start.

Feel yourself in role of bulb world saver with arcade game Stay Alight®!

Meet Mr. Bulb, who is gonna free planet from cartoon microbes with your help. Green microbes captured the planet, it’s up to you to find all their secret covers and destroy using tactic skills and projectile weapon. Game’s mechanics is based on real physics, so you should very attentively calculate shot power completing more than 60 unique levels in fascinating artwork.

Don’t forget Superpower arsenal: Freeze, Earthquake, Swatter, Spray! Use Superpowers to improve your chances during the battle vs. microbes. Bring the light back on this planet together with bulb hero!

DT2 starts in the US, and sees you taking out walkers to live another day — it’s all typical zombie FPS fare, but it looks a lot prettier than you’d expect. The graphics in this game are vibrant and detailed, with an energetic palette aided by superb animations, lighting and visual effects (particularly if you have the pleasure of rocking a TEGRA 3/TEGRA 4 device). You’ll encounter a variety of environments, including a library, a satellite communication center, city streets, rooftops and even settlements in Africa — all beautifully rendered and laid out for maximum bloodshed.

Considering the grand price of zero dollars, you would be a fool not to download The Respawnables and start playing. The graphics and art are great, the gameplay is really good and there’s plenty of variety in what you can do — whether it’s the bots you face or the real-life friends in multiplayer mode. Perfect for both the obsessed gamer and the casual player.

You do more than run in this game. You’re still escaping, sure, but in Temple Run 2, you also get to slide down ropes and travel through mine shafts in a wooden cart. In both cases you can tilt (and with the cart you have to not to die), and with the cart you can also duck to avoid low hanging support beams.

In 1989, game designer and author Jordan Weisman let his imagination run wild and created the ultimate fantasy universe for the geeks of his time: Shadowrun brought together magical creatures, cyberpunks, urban mercenaries and evil corporations in a futuristic dystopian world that made for a compelling tabletop role-playing game like no other. After several spin-off novels, video games and collectibles, Weisman got to work on bringing the franchise to a new breed of gamers through a successful Kickstarter project, and the result is certainly worth a look — Shadowrun Returns is a turn-based tactical RPG for PC/Mac/iOS/Android that draws players into its expansive world for an immersive experience, with class-leading gameplay and a compelling story.